Archive By Section - State, National

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2013 - Pentagon officials have put off sending furlough notices to civilian employees until they've had a chance to analyze how pending legislation that would fund the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year will affect the Defense Department.

Ogeechee Riverkeeper Emily Markesteyn said she is "disappointed" in a Georgia judge's denial of a petition seeking a halt on a Screven County textiles industry from discharging wastewater into the Ogeechee River.

The effects of sequestration are starting to be felt at Fort Stewart with the cancellation of an event planned by the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation. According to special events coordinator Chris Dent, the U.S. Army Soldier Show's stop at Fort Stewart has been canceled.

Coastal Health District Health Director Dr. Diane Weems told members of the Long County Board of Health on March 7 that the governmental sequestration will affect services in the state, but she wasn't sure to what degree it would hit local offices.

Officially, spring is three weeks away, but in Coastal Georgia, the sounds of spring are in the air every afternoon and evening. By sunset each day, frogs, toads, crickets and various song birds are warming up their voices and "wing bows" for a spring concert.

A study sponsored by the National Bureau of Economic Research claims that the elimination of the federal unemployment benefit program in 2014 resulted in 1.8 million new jobs that year, suggesting that offering unemployment benefits can slow job growth.

To settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged LinkedIn failed to protect the passwords and private information of its premium subscriber customers, the company has agreed to pay $1.25 — or about $1 each — million to approximately 800,000 people who were premium users of the social media network between March 2006 and June 2012.

Last week in Texas, U.S. Judge Andrew S. Hanen ordered a halt to President Obama's executive actions on immigration, agreeing with Georgia and 25 other states that filed a lawsuit opposing the president's attempt to rewrite our immigration system. This is a welcome announcement.

As America recovers from the recession, wealthy households are recovering faster than low-income ones, whose incomes have stagnated or declined since the crash. A new report says that this widening gap is sapping Social Security.

WASHINGTON -- Ash Carter, a former deputy defense secretary who today received a 93-5 affirmative vote by the U.S. Senate to succeed Chuck Hagel as defense secretary, received a welcome back and praise from President Barack Obama.

After President Barack Obama issued his 2015 Budget Proposal last month, Bread for the World, a Christian nonprofit seeking to end world hunger, wrote that the spending plan's details were important to the belief systems of people everywhere.